IntroductionFollistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) is a proinflammation mediator implicated in arthritis in rodent animal models. The present study is aimed at assessing FSTL1 levels in systemic autoimmune diseases and correlating them with disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsSerum FSTL1 levels from 487 patients with systemic autoimmune diseases and 69 healthy individuals were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). FSTL1 expression in synovial fluid (SF) and synovial tissues (STs) was determined by ELISA, immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis in RA patients and trauma controls. FSTL1 levels in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) from RA patients were determined by real-time PCR and western blot analysis.ResultsSerum FSTL1 levels were significantly elevated in patients with RA, ulcerative colitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome (SS), systemic sclerosis and polymyositis/dermatomyositis. Serum FSTL1 levels in the RA and secondary SS patients were substantially higher than those in other patients. Serum FSTL1 levels were increased in early RA, rheumatoid factor (RF)- and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA)-negative patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, serum FSTL1 concentrations were significantly higher in long-standing RA patients than in early RA patients and in the RF- and ACPA-positive RA patients than in RF- and ACPA-negative RA patients. Elevated FSTL1 levels in the STs and SF of RA patients were also observed. FSTL1 levels in serum were markedly higher than those in SF in RA patients. The strongest FSTL1 staining was detected in the cytoplasm of synovial and capillary endothelial cells from RA synovium. Furthermore, FSTL1 was induced in FLSs by inflammatory mediators. Importantly, serum FSTL1 levels were correlated with several important biologic and clinical markers of disease activity, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, RF, ACPA, swollen joint count, patient global visual analogue scale score and Disease Activity Score 28 in the adult RA patient population. Notably, serum FSTL1 levels were significantly diminished following successful treatment and clinical improvement.ConclusionsElevated FSTL1 levels reflect not only joint diseases but also inflammation and tissue degradation in systemic autoimmune diseases. Serum FSTL1 levels may thus serve as a serological inflammatory marker of disease activity in RA patients.

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Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined by the lack of the expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). It is characterized by aggressive behavior, poor prognosis and lack of targeted therapies. MicroRNA (miRNA) as a novel modulator of gene expression has played an important regulatory role in the malignancy. Dysregulation and/or mutation of the miRNAs may also contribute to the TNBC susceptibility since it is associated with the expression of ER, PR and HER2. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNAs may be extremely relevant for TNBC. We tried to validate the hypothesis that genetic variations in miRNA are associated with TNBC development, and identify candidate biomarkers for TNBC susceptibility and clinical treatment. We screened the genetic variants in all miRNA genes listed in the public database miRBase and NCBI. A total of 23 common SNPs in 22 miRNAs, which tagged the known common variants in the Chinese Han people with a minor allele frequency greater than 0.05, were genotyped. This case-control study involved 191 patients with TNBC and 192 healthy female controls. Frequencies of SNPs were compared between cases and controls to identify the SNPs associated with TNBC susceptibility. No significant association was found between TNBC risk and the SNPs in the miRNA genes in the Chinese Han people (P>0.05), but this warrants further studies.

The QUE/PEG2000-DPSE formulation was more effective than QUE in vitro on inhibiting the growth of glioma cancer cells. This work demonstrates that nanomaterials (PEG2000-DPSE) are effective drug delivery vehicles in vivo as tumor-targeted drug carriers.

Esophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers in the world, 70% of which are from China and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the major histopathological form (>90%). The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mature sequence of microRNA (miRNA) (mmSNPs) could cause the alteration of microRNA expression and contribute to the susceptibility of cancers. To evaluate the association between mmSNPs and ESCC, a case-control study including 773 patients with ESCC and 882 gender- and age-matched controls was carried out to investigate the association of five mmSNPs (miR-449b rs10061133, miR-4293 rs12220909, miR-608 rs4919510, miR-627 rs2620381, and miR-646 rs6513497) with ESCC susceptibility. As a result, two SNPs, miR-449b rs10061133 and miR-4293 rs12220909, were associated with decreased ESCC risk. For miR-449b rs10061133 A>G, individuals carrying GG genotype had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.77 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.62-0.97) compared with individuals with AA genotype. In the recessive model, the GG genotype also showed a protective effect on ESCC (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.63-0.97). For miR-4293 rs12220909 G>C, the heterozygous genotype GC was associated with a decreased ESCC risk (OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.61-0.97) compared with GG genotype. The C allele conferred 23% decrease in ESCC risk compared with the G allele in the allelic model (95% CI 0.63-0.93). In the dominant model, the GC/CC genotypes decreased the risk of ESCC (adjusted OR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.61-0.96). This study provides the first evidence that miR-449b rs10061133 and miR-4293 rs12220909 are associated with ESCC risk in Chinese population.

Healing of bone wounds is sensitive to various environmental stimuli. Using knee loading, which has been shown to stimulate bone formation in mouse femora and tibiae, we addressed a question: Does knee loading accelerate a closure of open wounds in a femur neck? A surgical wound (0.5 mm in diameter) was generated at the femur neck in the left and right femora of C57/BL/6 female mice, and knee loading was applied to the left knee for 3 min/day for 3 consecutive days. Surgical holes at the femoral midshaft were used as control. Animals were sacrificed 1, 2, and 3 weeks after surgery for analyses with µCT and pQCT as well as mechanical testing. The results showed load-driven acceleration of the closure of surgical holes. Compared to a sham-loaded contralateral control, knee loading reduced the size of surgical wounds in the femoral midshaft by 14% (p < 0.05), 21% (p < 0.01), and 32% (p < 0.001) in 1, 2, and 3 weeks, respectively. It also decreased the wound size in the femur neck by 16% (p < 0.001; 1 week), 18% (p < 0.001; 2 weeks), and 21% (p < 0.001; 3 weeks). Images with pQCT revealed that bone mineral density (BMD) was increased from 571 ± 19 mg/cm3 (control) to 686 ± 19 mg/cm3 (loaded) (p < 0.01), and bone mineral content (BMC) from 3.05 ± 0.12 mg/mm (control) to 3.42 ± 0.11 mg/mm (loaded) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, mechanical testing showed that stiffness of the femur was increased by knee loading (p < 0.05). This study demonstrates that knee loading is capable of accelerating healing of surgical wounds throughout the femur including the femoral midshaft and neck.

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Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal malignant proliferative blood disorder with a poor prognosis. Ferroptosis, a novel form of programmed cell death, holds great promise for oncology treatment, and has been demonstrated to interfere with the development of various diseases. A range of genes are involved in regulating ferroptosis and can serve as markers of it. Nevertheless, the prognostic significance of these genes in AML remains poorly understood. Transcriptomic and clinical data for AML patients were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Univariate Cox analysis was performed to identify ferroptosis-related genes with prognostic value, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm and stepwise multivariate Cox regression analysis were utilized to optimize gene selection from the TCGA cohort (132 samples) for model construction. Tumor samples from the GEO database (136 samples and 104 samples) were used as validation groups to estimate the predictive performance of the risk model. Finally, an eight-gene prognostic signature (including CHAC1, CISD1, DPP4, GPX4, AIFM2, SQLE, PGD, and ACSF2) was identified for the prediction of survival probability and was used to stratify AML patients into high- and low-risk groups. Survival analysis illustrated significantly prolonged overall survival and lower mortality in the low-risk group. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrated good results for the training set (1-year: 0.846, 2-years: 0.826, and 3-years: 0.837), which verified the accuracy of the model for predicting patient survival. Independent prognostic analysis indicated that the model could be used as a prognostic factor (p ≤ 0.001). Functional enrichment analyses revealed underlying mechanisms and notable differences in the immune status of the two risk groups. In brief, we conducted and validated a novel ferroptosis-related prognostic model for outcome prediction and risk stratification in AML, with great potential to guide individualized treatment strategies in the future.